


ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea, they slept on the abyss without a surge

by FiresFromOurHearts



Series: Uncharted Waters [21]
Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Gen, Genocide mentioned, Ghosts, History, It's Uzushio's fall what do you expect, Kirigakure | Hidden Mist Village, Legends, Propaganda, Rebuilt Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village, Rumours, Second Shinobi War, The Fall Of Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village, stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 00:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30097251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiresFromOurHearts/pseuds/FiresFromOurHearts
Summary: What was it like, growing in Kirigakure with Uzushio's ghost hanging over you? What stories did Kiri tell of Uzushio? What ghosts haunted Kiri and its endless fog?
Series: Uncharted Waters [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875832
Kudos: 16





	ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea, they slept on the abyss without a surge

Uzushio was destroyed before Zabuza’s birth. A year following the invasion that led to Kiri’s greatest victory, Zabuza is born. His first few years aren’t memorable, with the war a looming thing that Zabuza doesn’t remember.

In the end, Uzushio’s fall shouldn’t matter outside of textbooks. But Kiri is village of fog, their country a group of scattered islands. Maybe, once, Kiri would’ve been known for their water ninjutsu but they lived next to Uzushio for far too long to pretend otherwise. Uzushio was where the true masters of water ninjutsu lived.

They might’ve used seals, might’ve preferred seals, but they were ninjas of the ocean in a way that Kiri-nins weren’t, despite the fact they lived on an island. Stories whispered that Uzushio-nins were born from the sea, babies brought to Uzushio’s shores by the ocean. Such stories couldn’t be real, of course, but that doesn’t make them any less effective.

When Kiri invaded Uzushio, they had destroyed the village and tried to track down all the people who’d run. They had failed to do the latter, but succeeded at the former, _(their best victory, or so Kiri says)_. In doing all of this, Kiri tried to stamp out any sign or mention of Uzushio.

Some things, however, are impossible. The stories that grew, like weeds through pavement cracks, were not easily destroyed. Rather, they grew bigger. Kiri tried to make monsters of Uzushio’s ninjas, tried to turn the destroyed village into a nightmare place, but they forgot one very important face in doing so.

See, villages are full of monsters and are frequently nightmare places. After all, they are the homes of ninjas, _(destroyers, murderers, and so many more things)_. But that is neither here nor there.

Kiri tells of Jakkaru, an ANBU of Uzushio, who was the worst kind of creature. A monster made real, a thing drawn from a nightmare, the blood-thirsty jackal of Uzushio. Any story involving Jakkaru is a horror story, like the kind of thing civilians tell around campfires late at night.

_(Here is what Kiri could not know, and would never know for a good many years: Uzushio’s people tell stories of Jakkaru. In these tales, Jakkaru is a protector, a defender, their steady lifeline. Jakkaru is safe harbour in a storm; a boat when you are drowning; a hand when you have fallen.)_

So yes, Kiri will tell of Jakkaru, the nightmare monster, but there will also be quieter stories, ones that come from fighters on the front, about a ninja who stood with his team against a fleet. They might condemn him, might hate him, but they will respect him, just a little; be in awe of him for what he did, _(they understand protecting your village; Jakkaru’s motives have always made him that little bit more personable, a little more human, a little more understandable)_.

Zabuza hears these stories. He hears ones that tell of Uzushio’s Jackal, bloodthirsty and deadly. He hears ones that whisper of Jakkaru, the ANBU who held a fleet at bay with his team. He hears ones that aren’t told at all: ghost stories of a ninja who died but refused to stay dead.

The ghost stories are fake, things exaggerated, and Zabuza knows them. But still, late at night when there’s only the mist that hides everything, he can’t help but imagine Uzushio’s ghosts out there, haunting the ruins of a broken village.

Uzushio was destroyed and Kiri did their very best to eradicate everything about Uzushio—their people, their stories, their knowledge. Uzushio does end up, somewhat forgotten, but Kiri’s people don’t forget.

They are the ones who grow up under Uzushio’s ghost, and it is not an easy thing. They hear the stories—ones that Kiri spreads and ones that are not so officially spread.

This is how Zabuza grows: angry and perhaps a little scared and with ghost stories whispered by the mist itself. Is it any wonder that, when faced with Jakkaru for the first time, Zabuza considers that maybe his ghost has come back to life?

_(He will laugh about it, later. There was reason to give up the mission, failed as it was. Still… He will meet Jakkaru multiple times and he will always think something about his first impression was right. The ANBU is dangerous, whether he’s a ghost or not.)_

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Maye, this one's for you! You were asking about Zabuza and Kiri and growing up under Uzushio's ghost, weren't you?
> 
> The title from this one is stolen from a poem by Lord Byron called Darkness. I almost called this one 'Growing Up Under Uzushio's Ghost' but then I remembered my sea theme, which I'm doing very well with so figured I'd keep up.


End file.
